Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Former Karnataka Lokayukta and Supreme Court judge Justice N Santosh Hegde on Sunday said that the quality of being content was the only antidote for avarice.
Justice Hegde spoke virtually at the launch of ‘Bengalurina Bhoo-Mafia: Bhrashtacharada Chakravyuha’ (Bangalore’s Land-Mafia: A Labyrinth of Corruption) by Dr Shankara K Prasad and Nethrakere Udaya Shankar.
“The economic situation of our country would be much better if we rid of the decease of greed and avarice,” Justice Hegde told the gathering.
“During my time as the Lokayukta, I realised that the problem lies in society as a whole and not in the individual. Today’s society worships richness and power. There is no value for honest people today.”
Justice Hegde said that today there was a race to be rich and powerful.
“It is not wrong. However, it has to be done within the legal framework. One cannot do that illegally. There is only one antidote for greed and avarice — it is being content with what one has. If one is content or satisfied, he won’t be greedy,” the Justice said.
“We need to instil the quality of being content in our children and teach about it in schools. We are born as homo sapiens but the quality of humanity can only be inculcated as we grow up. If we inculcate humanity and the quality of being content, there will be peace and harmony in society.”
During the event, author Dr Prasad explained the decades-long struggles of members of around 950 families of the Sachidananda Nagar in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in getting khata documents. The book contains the story of “activities of land mafia, bureaucrats and politicians who got in the way and explores how technology can be used to solve such problems”, Sampoorna Swaraj Foundation, the publisher, said.